Southern Cameroons
| Southern Cameroons | ||||||
| Part of the Cameroons | ||||||
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| Capital | Buea | |||||
| History | ||||||
| • | British Mandate | 1922 | ||||
| • | Joined Cameroon | October 1, 1961 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| • | 1987 | 42,383 km2(16,364 sq mi) | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| • | 1987 | 2,100,000 | ||||
| Density | 49.5 /km2 (128.3 /sq mi) | |||||
Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British Mandate territory of British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1984 it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory have sought independence from the Republic of Cameroon, and the Republic of Ambazonia was declared by the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) on 31 August 2006.
Following the Treaty of Versailles, the German territory of Kamerun was divided on June 28, 1919, between a French and a British League of Nations Mandate, the French, who had previously administered the whole occupied territory, getting the larger. The French mandate was known as Cameroun. The British mandate comprised two geographically separate territories, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. They were administered from, but not joined to, the British territory of Nigeria through the British Resident (although some incumbents had the rank of District Officer, Senior Resident or Deputy Resident) with headquarters in Buea.
Applying the principle of indirect rule, the British allowed native authorities to administer populations according to their own traditions. These also collected taxes, which were then paid over to the British. The British devoted themselves to trade, and to exploiting the economic and mining resources of the territory. South Cameroons students, including Emmanuel Mbela Lifafa Endeley, created the Cameroons Youth League (CYL) on 27 March 1940, to oppose what they saw as the exploitation of their country.
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